But the bright music performed by the AMC Brass Quintet was also heralding a summer finale to the command's relocation under the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure decision.

"The band building is the first step in AMC's move down here," said Lt. Gen. James Pillsbury, deputy commanding general. "We're looking forward to many more events like this" before June.

That's when AMC's own more than 400,000-square-foot headquarters is to open and its four-star commander, Gen. Ann Dunwoody, will transfer the flag to Redstone Arsenal from Fort Belvoir, Va.

Pillsbury, a former commander of Redstone and the Aviation and Missile Command, is already here, as are about 720 of AMC's expected 1,354 positions.

"It is great for Becky and I to be back home at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama," he said Monday. "You just don't know."

Chief Warrant Officer 4 Peter Gillies, the AMC Band commander, is also glad to be here and, for the first time, in a building designed for the band's needs.

His new headquarters is 16,082 state-of-the-art square feet dedicated to the band's musical mission. It features a large rehearsal room, individual practice rooms, a music library, uniform lockers, space for instrument storage, cleaning and repair, offices and more.

Until now, the band was housed in a converted hospital, theater, NCO club or other old building. Band members did what they could with partitions and such, Gillies said, "but if the rock band was playing then you couldn't do anything else in the rest of the building."

Now, the rockers and other breakout groups have their own soundproof rooms and don't have to spend hours setting up and tearing down their equipment.

Ground was broken for the band's new home in January 2010. The contractor, Dyson Construction of Decatur, handed over the keys to the LEED-certified "green" building in December - three months early.

"We've been (in) here a month and it feels like home already," Gillies said.

More than 20 musicians are here now, he said. A few more are still to relocate from the band's former headquarters at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, and still more will come from Army bands around the world. About 40 will be here by summer, and there could be up to 60 over the next couple of years.

The Army musicians have already worked with students in local middle and high schools, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, and have provided some Christmas music in the area, said Curtis Clark, deputy to the Redstone Arsenal garrison commander.

"This a great day for Redstone, a great day for our community," he said. "These fine soldiers, their presence has already been felt."

For Specialist Joshua Couts of Hartselle, being at the arsenal is a kind of homecoming. He plays guitar for the jazz band and percussion in the ceremonial band.

Couts was assigned to the AMC band in December, after he graduated from basic training and the Army school of music.

"It's been great," he said. "I get to come back and see my family and see my friends.

"I didn't even know they were moving a band down here at that point," he said.

The AMC band has a tight schedule of gigs around the world, including Iraq and Afghanistan. Pillsbury reminded the crowd that instruments are only an addition to these soldier's packs.

"For those of you that have never served in the Army, these are soldiers first and musicians second," Pillsbury said. "They have got to take care of business first on the soldier side, and then they get a chance to perform."